1. Field
The present application relates generally to the operation of wireless communication systems, and more particularly, to methods and apparatus for device applet management on smart cards.
2. Background
Applications (Apps) or device applets, are now available that can be used to provide a wide range of add-on services and features to portable devices. For example, it is now possible for portable devices to download and launch device applets to perform value added functions such as, shopping, searching, position location, providing driving directions or an array of other functions. Carriers and service providers generally offer these device applets to device users for additional fees. Thus, the use of device applets increases the functionality and usability of portable devices and offers device users features and convenience not originally available on the devices themselves.
Currently, when the user downloads device applets to a device having a smart card, e.g. Removable User Identity Module (R-UIM) or CDMA Subscriber Identify Module (CSIM), those device applets are typically stored in device memory and are bound to that device. When the user removes the R-UIM/CSIM from the device and plugs it into a new device, all the device applets downloaded earlier are not available in the new device. When the user tries to download the device applets again, the user may need to pay for those device applets again since the application billing server cannot handle this scenario (e.g. the card on the new device is recognized as a totally different user). Furthermore, when the user plugs in a different card to the same device and then downloads new device applets, conflicts between the existing device applets and the newly downloaded device applets arise due to limitations of various device applet storage implementations.
Therefore, it would be desirable to have a mechanism that operates to allow device applets to be stored on a smart card in such a way as to overcome the problems associated with conventional systems as described above.